“The Man Who Was Almost a Man” is a disappointing story, written by Richard Wright, that reveals the sad truth about how people tend to define themselves by what they possess tangible power such as money or weapons. In the story Dave did the same. He called himself a man when he bought the gun. I think most people, especially in adolescence, just like Dave, start to believe they are adults. They do what they think is right, but end up paying the price for their mistakes. The reason they rush into adulthood is that teenagers feel insecure about who they are. Sometimes parents treat them like children and other times they treat them like adults. Unable to decide what they are, instead of looking for answers within themselves, they tend to look for them around them. They end up looking at what they own and defining themselves by it. I believe that people are not defined by what they own, but rather by what they do. I think the story supports my belief. By possessing the gun, Dave did not prove himself to be a man because his actions proved otherwise...